I wanted ice coffee with no sugar and 3 times they had sugar in it. They just redid them but it created a lot of waste. The app allows for you to add cream or milk and leave sugar at 0, the order that gets printed out refers to ice coffee and has an entry for +cream or +milk and doesn't mention sugar. I'm guessing many employees get confused and make it with sugar anyway and think I just want extra cream?

Anyway, the app works fine for me, but they just need to uniformly train staff in how to read the app orders. I'm sure they will figure it out, it's still new at some locations.

Why do they make it ahead of time if you are going to run into a pickup counter, but not make it ahead of time if I am doing drivethrough?

Starbucks who has had mobile order for a while had an issue where people were showing up to early for their drinks, crowding the pickup are area and scaring away potential customers.

That really freaked out Tim Hortons franchise owners so they sent corporate back to the me too drawing board in February. The solution they came up with was the estimated time of arrival (eta). They would estimate how long it would take you to get there based on your curent location and mode of transportation (foot or car).

Crowding wasn’t really a problem that needed to be solved for the drive-through as they can quickly prepare your order in the time it takes you to get from the speaker to the pickup window. You shave a few seconds at the window versus with your credit card or change. And if you have a passenger, they can place the mobile order while you drive, saving you time at the speaker.

Starbucks who has had mobile order for a while had an issue where people were showing up to early for their drinks, crowding the pickup are area and scaring away potential customers.

That really freaked out Tim Hortons franchise owners so they sent corporate back to the me too drawing board in February. The solution they came up with was the estimated time of arrival (eta). They would estimate how long it would take you to get there based on your curent location and mode of transportation (foot or car).

Crowding wasn’t really a problem that needed to be solved for the drive-through as they can quickly prepare your order in the time it takes you to get from the speaker to the pickup window. You shave a few seconds at the window versus with your credit card or change. And if you have a passenger, they can place the mobile order while you drive, saving you time at the speaker.

The app allows for no sugar though, and they were able to make it without sugar on many occasions. An iced coffee without sugar is what I wanted, so how is it that I need to be trained? I understand it also gets made with a base, but then why have a no sugar option in the app?

Are they? If you hang out there long enough I think you will realize they cater to all sorts. From the unemployed refill cheapskates, students, the homeless, donuts in a cup Frappuccino fans, drip coffee fans, star promo addicts, milk lovers, single origin 3rd wave snobs...

Tim Hortons is in more rural locations than Starbucks, but in the cities and suburbs I think they are going after the same customers.

The app allows for no sugar though, and they were able to make it without sugar on many occasions. An iced coffee without sugar is what I wanted, so how is it that I need to be trained? I understand it also gets made with a base, but then why have a no sugar option in the app?

I don’t work for Tim Hortons, but from what I understand based on the nutrition info, iced coffee at Tim Hortons includes at least 5g of sugar thanks to the “beverage base”. You can add more sugar if you want.

I noticed in the app “sweet syrup” is checked off by default. You can uncheck it. The nutrition guide says the syrup is 0g of sugar, but that seems unlikely.

I don’t work for Tim Hortons, but from what I understand based on the nutrition info, iced coffee at Tim Hortons includes at least 5g of sugar thanks to the “beverage base”. You can add more sugar if you want.

Ok, well in that case they probably want a section in their app that allows for clarification of no sugar in a coffee. It gets confusing for those that have dietary restrictions. In person you can just say no sugar, but the app orders are just up in the air for interpretation.

Thanks for reminding me about the syrup section, it's also uncheked so I'm not sure how the orders were read.

In the summer I stopped going to Tim Hortons and started going to Starbucks because they have cold brew without sugar. Second Cup eliminated their iced coffee and replaced it with their version of cold brew.

Last edited by MonctonMan on Nov 7th, 2017 4:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I don’t think they can. A large ice coffee with no sugar added at Tm Hortons is 16g of sugar. The base is presumably mixed in to the coffee, so they can’t serve it without.

I can assure you they can and often do make ice coffees without sugar. It's how I always order it in person and how other people in my office order it. It's not something new to have coffee without sugar. If I could show it to you through a picture I would. They might make it differently without the base, i.e. ice with coffee and cream or milk poured on top. The question isn't if it exists, it's just how to order it through the app.

Anyway, I don't want to argue over it since it detracts from the deal thread. I was just commenting on how the app needs a bit of work. Otherwise it's a really good deal, better than buying twice as many at MacDonads for a free one.